Our strike is not about resident doctors but to rescue the health system from collapse – NARD

The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, (NARD) has insisted on starting a warning strike on Wednesday despite the fact that the Federal Government said it had begun talks with their parent body, the Nigerian Medical Association. NARD insists that the strike action is not about the resident doctors but to rescue the health system from collapse.

The doctors gave poor health infrastructure as the main factor for the strike action.

The five- day warning strike beginning 8am today will take about 12,000 members of the NARD across 79 tertiary health institutions in the country, who formed the backbone of the healthcare sector, off their duty posts, leaving the masses seeking medical attention to their medical challenges.

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According to NARD, the warning strike would end on Monday, May 22.

The resident doctors had, on April 29, 2023, issued a two-week ultimatum to the Federal Government to meet their demands or face industrial disharmony.

The ultimatum lapsed on Saturday, May 13.

The doctors are demanding an immediate increment in the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure to the tune of 200 per cent of the current gross salaries of doctors.

The doctors also want immediate massive recruitment of clinical staff in the hospitals, and immediate withdrawal of the bill seeking to compel medical and dental graduates to render five-year compulsory services in Nigeria before being granted full licences to practise.

They also want the immediate implementation of CONMESS, domestication of the Medical Residency Training Act, and review of hazard allowance by all the state governments as well as private tertiary health institutions where any form of residency training is done, among others.

The ultimatum lapsed on Saturday, May 13.

The doctors are demanding an immediate increment in the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure to the tune of 200 per cent of the current gross salaries of doctors.

The doctors also want immediate massive recruitment of clinical staff in the hospitals, and immediate withdrawal of the bill seeking to compel medical and dental graduates to render five-year compulsory services in Nigeria before being granted full licences to practise. This is to safeeguard the sector from further brain drain.

Parts of the demands of the doctors is the immediate implementation of CONMESS, domestication of the Medical Residency Training Act, and review of hazard allowance by all the state governments as well as private tertiary health institutions where any form of residency training is done, among others.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, had on Monday, during the Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja, described the NARD warning strike as unnecessary since the government was already engaging with the umbrella body, Nigerian Medical Association.

The minister said, “On the demand for a 200 per cent salary increase, the NMA is the father of all doctors in Nigeria, and they have about four or five affiliates of which the resident doctors are an association. So, the NMA is discussing with the Federal Ministry of Health, Salaries Income and Wages Commission, and the Ministry of Labour, and we know that the NMA has accepted a salary increase of between 25 and 30 per cent across the board for their members.

“So, I don’t know the logic by which people who are members of the NMA are now coming up to say pay us 200 per cent increase. I don’t understand it. I have called the NMA President to contact them because, on the issue of remuneration negotiation, it’s the NMA that the government deals with. So, I have told the president of the NMA to contact them, and we will engage them. They should not go on any strike, it’s not necessary,

In response to the position of Ngige, the President of NARD, Dr Emeka Orji while speaking with Punch had insisted , “What we are asking for is not for the doctors but for the health system in general, because if we do not address these issues, the problems we are having in the sector will continue to happen and it will get to a time when there will be a total collapse of the system.

“Doctors are leaving in droves, clinical staff are leaving and we have always said that the most important cause of the brain drain in the sector is poor remuneration. We have even done a study on this, and we have said this over and over again. If we do not address these issues, it will come to a point when we will not even have nurses to attend to patients.

ValidViewNetwork reports that the exodus of medical practitioners from the Nigeria health sector has reached an alarming rate constituting a threat to the sector.

“Politicians and associates who are well-to-do will leave us here and go out to seek health care services outside of the country, the poor masses on the street cannot afford to do that. What we are doing is to call the attention of the government to act and request that they address the issues so that they can stay in the country to serve the country.”

Asked if the NMA and the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria were in support of the NARD strike, Orji told Punch Newspaper, “We do not have official evidence that they are against the strike. The government should wade in and solve what they can solve and give timelines for the ones they are yet to do but, there has not been anything from them.

“We have a President-elect, we know that he is watching, and people are watching. It may not be good for them to take over when there is a crisis in the health sector, and that was why we have to restrain our people to continue to exercise patience.”

Orji called on the government to address the issues raised before the May 29 handover date as further industrial harmony could not be guaranteed after the warning strike, should the issues be left unresolved.